Union Minister of State for Law and Justice, Electronics and Information Technology P P Choudhary told MP Nalin Kumar Kateel to submit a proposal on setting up a National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) Centre in Mangaluru.

Speaking at a programme to mark three years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi government’s at the Centre here on Wednesday, he said that if the MP moots the proposal, the ministry will consider it on priority basis. Such a centre is required for a city like Mangaluru which is considered as the educational hub of the country, he said.

He said the Union government wants to set up NIELIT in each state. Some states have more than one such centres while others do not have one. The NIELIT is engaged both in formal and non-formal education in the area of Information, Electronics and Communication Technology (IECT), besides development of industry-oriented quality education and training programmes in the state-of-the-art areas. There are 36 NIELIT centres in the country, he added.

Choudhary said if the MP submits a proposal on IT Park in Mangaluru, the ministry will consider it positively. IT hub should come up in a city like Mangaluru. Also, the Software Technology Park in Mangaluru will be strengthened, he said.

Good that Mangaluru MP did not discuss about 'Medical Electronics Park' in Mangaluru. Now chances are high that PM himself will act in response to posts here on this matter.

Let us hope that NIELIT, Mangaluru will have 'Centre of Excellence for Medical Electronics' & 'Centre of Excellence for Health Informatics'. (All other facilities needed are listed against each NIELIT centres in website itself.)

Whether NIELIT will be coming up in Kunjathbail Health City (assuming that it will focus on health sector)? Apart from AA Shetty institutes what are other plan for this health city? Even 'Medical Electronics Park' can be located here depending upon land requirements.

Mangaluru, 10 Jun 2017: St Aloysius College (Autonomous), here, in yet another achievement in its many distinctions, has been ranked 23 among the ‘Best Science Colleges in India’ by The Week-Hansa research study at All India level. At the state level, the college is in the 4th position. The Week magazine is conducting the research study on colleges in the last five years on an annual basis and St Aloysius has achieved the rank consistently. In fact, it has improved its ranking to 23 from 24 in the previous year.

Today, Mangaluru city boasts of 3 universities in close proximity to each other – Mangalore University, Yenepoya University, and NITTE University. On the outskirts is located the National Institute of Technology Karnataka, designated as a National Institute of Importance by government of India. About 61 kilometers away in Manipal is situated the Manipal University. Thus in a small geographical radius there are 5 major universities and innumerable schools and colleges of repute. I would prefer to call this area as the ‘Education Pentagon’ because of the above 5 great institutions functioning in DK District and Udupi District. UK has its Golden Triangle of Oxford, Cambridge, and London universities. Let Mangaluru also boast about its ‘Education Pentagon’.

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Unfortunately, Indian universities are just ‘Teaching universities’ focused only on marks, whereas what we need is ‘Research Universities’. The ‘Education Pentagon’ of Mangaluru should be developed into a ‘ Big Science Facility’, as in China, comprising of facilities like Supercomputing Core Lab, Six sided Virtual Reality Facility that can turn data into 3D structures, Imaging and Characterization Lab, Propulsion and Combustion Engineering Lab, Aerodynamics & Fluid Mechanics Lab, Center for Integrated Turbulence Simulation, Hypersonic and Computational Aerodynamics Center, High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Synchrotron Radiation Facility and many more. The ‘Education Pentagon’ in Mangaluru should become the epicenter of India’s future scientific progress. The task, no doubt, is uphill but with co-operation from all Mangloreans it can become a reality.

Most of the Labs mentioned are in Aerospace domain. Would be good for increasing floating student population. (that is what meant by 'City of the Young'). But once students complete education including Ph.D. programmes they will move to other cities which are dominating Aerospace domain which are currently huge mega cities (Belgaum & Dharwad are in better position to take on those cities in Aerospace and Defense domains and let us leave it to them) and we have also responsibility to decrease these cities burden by decreasing their population otherwise cities like the parched city by means like turning river will destroy our environment and hence livelihood also of less educated. To increase Mangaluru's fixed population we need to have ‘Cluster of Excellence’ in our 'Domains of Excellence' in which undivided DK wants to lead. One of goal of 'Smart City' is also attract and retain talented people.

For example we can have 'Centre of Excellences' for many of subjects in Medical/Healthcare domain listed below either as institutes mentioned as NIPER & BEERI or distributed in different colleges & research institutes. (Hope I have arranged them correctly as I am very weak in Medical stuffs, some subjects are already taught in Mangaluru colleges and some links may not be working as I prepared it when I was studying them a long back. And there may be some links not explicitly related to biomedical domain in BEERI).

National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research (NIPER) (more than 100 acres) with following additional departments/courses (NIPER Academic Departments)

Indian universities are nowhere if the above standards are applied. It is a pity that we do not have a single world class university in India. The ‘Education Pentagon’, which I have proposed comprising Mangaluru and Manipal should join together to form a ‘Cluster of Excellence’, wherein share facilities, could be the norm, in order to minimize the financial burden. Derlakatte region can be developed into an ‘Exclusive University Zone’, and developed on the lines of American universities.

For this to become a reality, all the stake holders need to put their heads together, and develop a master plan for setting up an ‘Exclusive University Zone’. The process could be set in motion by notifying the entire Derlakatte region as being reserved for setting up a joint World Class University, otherwise it is likely to be usurped by real estate agents and ruined because of haphazard planning and reckless destruction of greenery. The area has immense potential to be developed into a picturesque World Class University Zone, with latest state-of-the-art facilities, arcades, laneways, gardens, green spaces, water bodies, tree lined avenues, and splendid buildings, all wowing students of future generations. It should be our duty, mission and vision to develop Mangaluru into an in-demand student destination. We possess a unique ‘Education Pentagon’, developed by visionaries; it is our duty to expand its horizons for the world to envy.

As I have posted earlier Museums should also be in our choosen domains of excellence like Medical/Healthcare, Marine, Petrochemicals etc on first priority, all others next.

The central government has already planning to promote top ranking 10 government and 10 private universities as world class universities (1-greenfield?). I hope Manipal University will be one among them.

Definitely Deralakatte could be exclusive 'Knowledge Zone'. And we can also develop new one along Airport-Athrady road or Moodbidre road.

MANGALURU: The Port city of India's first startup district will get the first start-up incubation centre at Mallikatta. It will be operational in the next four months.

Nirmala Sitharaman, Union minister for commerce and industry, visited the spaced identified for the centre in MCC Building near Mallikatta on Friday.

She said that the 6,000 sqft centre with 60 seats intake will be set up within four months with an initial funds of Rs 1.18 crore.

"This is a place where we want to give necessary basic infrastructure for any start-ups which are looking for space. They can come and get the necessary infrastructure whether it is internet connection and other necessary plug and play facilities for a very nominal rate. There are start-ups who come and ask for space for one hour per day for next three days, some others ask for working space for one week. Few may ask for space for a whole month. Depending on the demand of a start-up there should be a place to sit and work and ideate. After that they should be able to convert that into commercial strategy.

They can also sit and talk business with partners and clients. NASSCOM also has agreed to give one representative, who will be here to facilitate," the minister said.

The centre can accommodate 60 seats for start-ups who will come and have the plug and play facility for short-term or medium term, she said. "At present, those start-ups who don't have the kind of eco-system go away to other cities. We want to retain them here because lot of talent is here and lot of qualified people here. They shouldn't be going elsewhere and they should be given necessary facilities here," Nirmala said.

Industry located in the region can partner with the centre and look for solutions. Industries in the region can ask start-ups to give solutions and it should be possible here itself instead of searching start-ups elsewhere, she said. "Interaction from industry will strengthen this programme. Youth of this area will not have in the heart of the city a very good accessible place. The deputy commissioner (K G Jagadeesha) has taken a lot of interest together with the Mayor (Kavitha Sanil), who gave extraordinary support. I have released the first installment from my MPLAD funds for interior works, electrification and procurement of required equipment. It will reach the deputy commissioner soon," she said adding there will be no dearth of funds.

What facility is that with Rs.1.18 crores? What are the equipments and tools the government is providing? Looks like a 'Business Incubation Centre' than 'Technlogy Incubation Centre'. Whether schools and colleges will have their own incubation centres as per the startup scheme or not?

DC Dr K G Jagadeesha said the work on the incubation centre would be completed within four months.

The minister said that complementary to the startups, innovation hubs have been planned in NITK and NMAM Institute Of Technology, Nitte, which will be established in association Niti Ayog, in the days to come. The innovation hubs will provide a platform for interaction.

Summa: 'Startup District' project is not Government of India project but individual contribution to Karnataka by Nirmala Sitharaman who is representing it as a member of Rajyasabha. Tinkering Labs will be setup in 20 schools and colleges. Will encourage researches in Healthcare, Science, Electricity etc.

The minister noted that the city corporation here has provided suitable space required for the centre, and it is the responsibility of the deputy commissioner of the district to develop the centre properly. She asked deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district, K G Jagadeesh, to provide technical assistance, separate cabins, power, 4G internet facility, 3D printers, cafeteria and other facilities which the companies might need.

"Start-up companies can function in the incubation centre for a week or a month. They get opportunity to hold consultation with intending customers about the marketing of their products," she said. Noting that coastal Karnataka has rich human resource for this purpose, she said that the area is also ideal for industry and the youth from the area are enterprising. She added that this centre is being opened to ensure that the youth do not immigrate to other places after education in search of jobs. "Being a representative of Karnataka in Rajya Sabha, I have provided grant for the centre, and I am ready to provide additional grant if necessary," she announced.

Saldanha said the incubation centre will provide start-ups with an IT ecosystem with mentoring from Nasscom. The KCCI has already held discussions with Nasscom in this regard, he said. During her visit to Mangaluru on Friday, Sitharaman had stated that she, with the help of NITI Ayog, has taken initiatives to set up innovation hubs at the National Institute of Technology Karnataka in Mangaluru and at Nitte Mahalinga Adyanthaya Memorial Institute of Technology in Udupi district.

Along with this what colleges need is workshop with facilities like CNC machines, welding machines, plastic welding/joining machines etc for making models using wood, plastic etc. (1,2,3)(Can this be clubbed with Skill Development Programme at colleges?). And we require hobby shops supplying all modeling accesories (aicraft, ship, robot etc modeling)(not only kits but also parts & individual accessories so that kids can have their own design instead of assembling ready made kit. more than what is available at Kinetic Hobbies) needed for student projects of school kids as they are not allowed to work on machines. Currently searching for these accessories is a big task.

And the state government will now completely forget to set up 'Instrumentation Incubator' & 'IT Park' in Mangaluru. Isn't it? If it happens it would just indicate failures of Mangalore MLAs to look after interest of Mangaluru. If so they deserve to be defeated in next election. Anyway good work by Mangaluru Mayor for Startup Incubation Centre.

How many colleges in undivided DK have introduced Data Science, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics in curriculum? I hope by the end of this year every technical colleges in the region will have these subjects and MU introduces BAI/MAI (Bachelor/Master of Artificial Intelligence, another applied mathematics degree) like BCA/MCA (or BCA/MCA with AI & Data Science as specialized subjects) so that colleges teaching science & mathematics (yes, AI has application in commerce, arts, business etc) can introduce this degree. Other option is to introduce Bachelor/Master degrees in Data Science and teach AI & Big Data as part of it.

The facility, with a capacity of 60 seats, will be operational in a month. “Two days ago, I was in Mangaluru to inspect the space given by the municipality. I was so encouraged that all 60 seats have already been booked.”

That means Mangaluru & Udupi need more seats. So, 'Instrumentation Incubator' & 'IT Park' are welcome. And hope, in near future, Mangaluru will even have cheaper 'Subsea Data Center' for startups requiring them.

Summa: MoU includes opportunity for higher studies for lecturers and students, research assistance for new inventions, Kumamoto scholarship for students selected for research, joint technical conferences by both institutes.

Summa: 50 meters width Jeppinamogaru (Netravati Bridge) to Adyar/Kannur 6 km fourlane road will cost Rs. 100 crores. Rs. 10 crores released now. DPR is in final processing stage. There possibility that small islets on Netravati & Gurupura rivers will be developed for tourism once road is realized.

We have to find out now whether NH-66 will be developed as highspeed road or not as that would be main Bharatmala highway.

Summa: Tender will be called for feasibility study for upgrading Belthangady-Dharmastala-Shiradi 25km, Gundya-Subramania 17km, Karkala-Moodbidre-BC Road 40km as two lane roads. Tender is called for feasibility study of upgrading BC Road-Kaikamba-Kateel-Mulky 48km, Tokkottu-Mudipu-Melkar 27km as two lane roads.

Which is sixth one? I thought BC Road-Kaikamba-Kateel-Mulky and Tokkottu-Mudipu-Melkar will be fourlane roads. Hope Airport Road - Athrady will be upgraded as fourlane national highway.

When will 1.18 lakh crores 8-lane dual carriageway concrete highspeed road with service roads works commence? Which are phases of development of this road? Will Hassan-BC road will be developed as fourlane road first with fourlane flyovers, tunnels, bridges in first stage and then one more fourlane road will be added to this to make it eightlane road? Or will it be totally separate road?

Summa: DPR preparation and preliminary survey works are going on for upgrading existing national highway to eightlane highspeed highway. Works will be started in another 3 or 4 months and will be completed in 5 years. The road, without any turns or humps & slumps, allowing 100-120 kmph traffic speed, will reduce journey time from current 7-10 hours to 4.5 hours. Ambulances, cars & buses and trucks will have separate lanes. Only two toll gates will be there at two ends of the road stretch. Cold mix technology will be used for Shiradighat stretch.

So, NHAI will first concretize fourlane Shiradighat stretch and then reconstruct eightlane road with cold mix technology. How they are planning to reduce turns in this stretch? Whether the government has dropped the idea of tunnel road?

Whether cost figures are high due to fresh land acquisition for straightening the road?

When are they going to commence actual Bharatmala works of upgrading NH-66?

That means Pumpwell bus stop is not a 'Transportation Hub' but just a 'Service/Mofussil Bus Terminal'. We had hoped that along with service buses even other long distance and interstate buses will ply from Pumpwell. That hope has faded now. Those Mumbai, Hyderabad, the parched city buses will continue to encroach roads like Milagres Cross Road in the night. And as there is no shared depot planned for private buses at Pumpwell many of them will continue to use roadside or footpath as depot cum garage.

But hope after redirecting service buses towards Pumpwell more city buses will be introduced from State Bank.

“The Director, Mangaluru Airport, had said expansion of Mangaluru Airport will cost Rs 1,120 crore. But, there was no information on financial viability in the proposal. The AAI has not committed to bear the expenditure of the project. As the airport belongs to AAI and there is no commitment from AAI on the cost, the CM had directed that a feasibility study be conducted for expansion of the airport on a PPP basis. The report submitted by iDeck revealed that it is not feasible to develop the airport on PPP basis,” Deshpande explained. In April 2017, the AAI had written to the government to consider sharing of costs besides providing free land.

The minister said that recently the AAI had suggested four options for construction. “None of the four options are feasible considering their nature including filling up of the valley with 1,200 truck loads of mud every day. Implementation of all these options would require Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 crore. Hence, the government is mulling alternative solutions,” he said.

Deshpande also revealed that the government is examining the possibility of extending the runway up to an extent of 33 acres for the critical mandatory requirement for safe landing of aircrafts currently and in the near future.

“A proposal of restructuring of Mangaluru International Airport on an additional area of 286 acres has been submitted to AAI. As the airport comes under, AAI, it has to take a final call on this matter. AAI has opined that it is difficult to acquire 286 acres of land. AAI also proposed four alternative plans. When the state government studied these four proposals, all looked impractical. Ultimately it was decided to carry out survey on the possibility of runway extension on 33 acres land and opening of additional airport between two coastal cities.” Deshpande added.

Why all four proposals are impractical? There is enough building waste generated in Mangaluru that can be used for filling by asking builders to dump waste there. Acquire land in stages and let builders fill them in stages. If each year 50 acres land is acquired then filling 286 acres will take around 7 years. Don't worry, Mangalore Builders will extend all help to build runway. It will not cost Rs. 4,000 or 5,000 crores. Or impractical because land identified for acquisition belongs to politicians or their relatives? The state and the central governments just does not have any intention to develop MIA. New airport is just a tactic to delay the matter. The state government has only money for Yettinahole project and desalination plants to ruin Dakshina Kannada district.

The State has to provide the required land for expansion and upgrade free of cost and free from all encumbrances to AAI. Following this, a meeting was held between the Chief Secretary and AAI chairman, Mr. Deshpande said.

With the State spending Rs. 68.92 crore on land acquisition, rehabilitation and development of alternative roads so far, the Finance Department has said that the expenditure for future expansion has to be borne by AAI as Mangaluru airport belongs to AAI.

Subsequently, the director of Mangaluru airport had submitted a Rs. 1,120-crore proposal for expansion. An additional amount of Rs. 800 crore has been estimated for acquisition of 286 acres, including three hills, and to fill up the valley in the land, Mr. Deshpande said.

That makes distance between Kannur and Mangalore aiports about 150km. If it is new airport then decision has to be taken immediately and land acquisition has to be started soon. And design for multi-mode connectivity.

Q: You had put in a lot of efforts for direct overseas flights from Mangaluru airport. The airport is developing now. The late Dr V S Acharya when he was minister had suggested that an airport should be built at Udupi under PPP model. Recently minister R V Deshpande took up the issue and said that a survey is under way regarding the airport at Udupi. Do you have any information on it?

A: R V Deshpande clearly knows that it is a B R Shetty project. Efforts are on as the land is already available for the airport at Padubidiri.

If this new airport is so near to sea then even seaplanes can land/takeoff from sea itself and sail to/from airport terminal along with highspeed boats. That should reduce burden on runway to accommodate seaplanes. While highspeeds boats can connect to places like Bunder, Malpe, Bhatkal, Gokarna seaplanes can connect to Mannpalla lake, Moodbidre lake, Shringeri, Subramanya etc wherever lakes or rivers are there.

Note that even highspeed rail, hyperloop, metrorail, bus services etc should be integrated with airport terminal whenever they become reality.

I think minimum domestic connections to Mumbai and the parched city should be maintained at current airport even after new airport comes up. Otherwise it can be used for flying club or pilot training and coastguard operations.

The New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) has become the first among 12 major ports in the country to go completely green, without depending on external sources for energy and water and extending green cover in its sprawling premises, say port authorities.

“The daily power requirement of about 26,000 units for the port operations, including the residential colony, is being taken care by solar power generated from about 5.2 MW plants,” said NMPT chairman P.C. Parida. He said no other port had yet become self-sufficient in power.

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Mr. Parida said public sector undertakings can produce more solar power and feed it to the grid if the government offers land free of cost on lease. NMPT is prepared to invest on solar plants if the land is given and sell the power to power supply companies, he said.

Is NMPT planning for offshore power plant? As I posted earlier if offshore power plants are set up at suitable distances then electrically operated boats can be recharged in sea also. As NMPT takes a role in fisheries harbour development projects it can also take a guiding role for development of offshore power plants and electrical boat building yards. GSI, Mangalore can help in finding suitable locations.

IPRCL is an organisation under the Shipping Ministry with stakes held by several ports. These are basically flyovers that cost about Rs.100 crore each. The rail bridge projects were earlier implemented under the Railway Ministry.

“Some of the first few projects to be taken up include those near Machlipatnam, Krishnapatnam, Kandla port and New Mangalore Port,” Anoop Kumar Agrawal, Managing Director, IPRCL, told BusinessLine.

Maersk Line has processed trade’s debut shipment of papayas from Manglore in Karnataka to Jebel Ali, UAE through its container vessel- M. V. Tiger Goman. This opens up a niche cargo category of shipping non-frozen goods(Fruits) using reefers from the region (Mandya, Karnataka).

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”India is one of the largest producers of Papayas in the world. This breakthrough shipment is likely to allow Indian traders to reach out to newer and larger markets, helping them to enable and tap the growth potential held by the fruit export market.” Mr Franck Dedenis, Head of West Central Asia Trades said.

Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP, said he has planned to have special agricultural zones in Puttur and Belthangady. Mr. Kateel said he has proposed the setting up of a Coconut Park in Bantwal to the Coconut Development Board.

Karnataka seabed having iron ore (reported earlier), lime mud / calcareous sediments may be good news for steel, cement & construction industries if mineral deposits can be exploited commercially. Similarly phosphate-rich sediments for fertilizer industries. It is not clear from the news whether precious stones are discovered near Karnataka shores.

MANGALURU: A proposal to set up special agriculture zone (SAZ) on lines with special economic zone is under consideration, deputy commissioner K G Jagadeesha said. There is sufficient demand for locally grown vegetables and flowers abroad and this has spurred the demand to set up a SAZ, DC said adding a committee consisting of agriculture experts, officials, farmer leaders will be set up the committee is expected to submit its report in this regard in next two months.

I don't think MSEZ land can be separated out as SAZ but export-oriented agri industries can come up in multiproduct MSEZ itself just like export-oriented marine food processing industries.

I was thinking that SAZ is for reserving the land for agriculture permanently and whole Puttur, Sullia and Belthangadi fall within SAZ. Okay now it means agriculture based SEZ also, most probably food processing industries & flower packing industries. Will it be a multimode Agri-Logistics Hub? (If it is located near Neatravati/Gurupur rivers then waterway can also be used when it is realized.) Will this SEZ is in addition to Coconut Park which is not export oriented park?

Instead of service-based IT companies Mangaluru should focus on product-based IT companies. Focused efforts on on startup & research on specific domains will definitely lead to product-based IT companies.

... He (Mittur N Jagadish, Head of the Bio-Tech Facilitation Cell of the Karnataka Biotechnology and Information Technology Services (KBITS)) said that the theme-based biotech parks are at various stages of implementation in Bidar, Dharwad, Mangaluru ...

We are hearing this for last 8 years - Marine Biotech Park at Tannirbhavi. How many more years this park will be at various stages of implementation?

The single foundation laid in rapid pace is known as 'Raft Foundation' in the construction industry. This massive foundation is the fastest executed foundation for such a magnanimous structure. It has made it’s place in the India’s construction history. As much as 505 tonnes of steel, along with nearly 2600 cubic metre of M40 grade concrete which amounts to approximately 24000 bags of cement is consumed in for the foundation. The quality of the structure has been met with the usage of best know primary steel JSW Fe500D. For a continuous pour, the foundation was divided into three blocks with high rib sheets.

Speaking to Bangalore Mirror, Sudhir Gowda, consultant, district tourism department, said, “This is an attempt to develop adventure sports. In Mangaluru, the area near the Phalguni river lodge has been identified. Wanderlust Adventures from Delhi has proposed setting up a bungee station with jumps over the river. They have also proposed ziplines across the river. The project cost is about Rs 4.25 crore and will be developed on a 70:30 with 30 per cent by Wanderlust. The ticket revenues will also be on 70:30 ratio. Multiple activities will be offered from this bungee site which also includes commando slithering, cage ride and so on. The proposal is pending before the tourism minister and secretary tourism,” he said.

Costa Crociere S.p.A of Italy will start three and four nights cruise line sailings from Mumbai to Kochi via Mangaluru and Kochi to Maldives respectively from November to March to tap the demand for short cruise services in India as some of the country’s state-run ports step-up efforts to boost revenues.

Yenepoya University is planning to set up an innovation and incubation centre to strengthen research activities and network, according to its Chancellor Y. Abdulla Kunhi. Addressing a gathering at the silver jubilee year celebration of Yenepoya Dental College at Deralakatte here on Monday, he said that the university would strengthen research activities in emerging areas such as 3D printing technologies, omics-technologies, patient relevant clinical and translational research.

He said that the university was developing an additional campus at Kinya, 5 km away from Deralakatte. It would be an integrated AYUSH complex, with training and healthcare facilities in all forms of Indian medicine.

He said that the university was developing a state-of-the-art robotic surgery training unit, a cadaveric laboratory for training in minimal invasive procedures.

It has also plans to set up a comprehensive oncology centre that would focus on holistic cancer care from awareness, early detection to advanced and palliative care facilities.

Using the robotic surgery facility introduced some time ago the Yenepoya Hospital has performed more than 100 surgeries now.

Chancellor of Yenepoya University Yenepoya Abdulla Kunhi said that the university was working towards building an integrated treatment complex on its campus in Deralakatte. University Vice-Chancellor M. Vijaykumar said that the Yenepoya Medical College Hospital was the third one in the state where 3 Tesla MRI facility was available

We have to find out what type of arrangement the government is planning for passage of barges from one side to the other side of dams (River Navigation Today: Locks, Dams and Barges - Illinois DNR) to know whether the pillars of the old dam impose problems to barges passing on Netravathi Waterway when implemented. We also have to use water bodies for growing medicinal water plants.

Many of our lakes or backwaters of rivers are covered by weeds. A best way to use them is - Weeds of change: Humble Hyacinth gets a nifty avatar. If weeds can be grown in an ecologically sustainable way without harming water bodies then this could generate alternative jobs to beedi workers unless some startup invents a weed weaving robot. We have to use our water bodies for growing medicinal water plants.

The rainfall throughout the year too has been meagre with 1,810.2 mm from January to July 28 as against 2,393.2 mm and last year’s 1967.2 mm, amounting to nearly 25% deficiency.

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The earlier pattern used to help adequate groundwater recharge while under the present pattern, a major chunk of rainwater just drains into the sea, he said. Moreover, there is no proper groundwater table in the coastal region due to the absence of aquifers, he pointed out.

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The solution lies in everyone preparing individual water budget and resorting to storing rainwater/ recharging groundwater.

Places such as Moodbidri would not have faced water shortage if the Kadala Kere is properly managed, from which water could be drawn to the town through gravity, he pointed out. Indiscriminate covering of the earth by concrete/ paver blocks would completely block water percolation into the ground thereby reducing groundwater level, he said.

A way to construct reservior so to avoid ship/boat movement issues to old port is to channelize water to reservior through a separate canal (of course canal will have a bridge over it for vehicle movements) with suitable arrangement that backwater will not flow into reservior during non-rainy season. But this will also create flooding issues though erosion may or may not come down. And saline water may enter fresh water reservoir through soil. Better, reliable engineers of NITK do independent feasibility analysis and supervising than living things to the luxurious IISc professor. I am sure final cost of water will be much much higher when all geological & flood hazards are addressed in the plan properly.

The fishermen with small boats can do fresh water fishing (if double barriers are constructed like this - cost may go up further) and as mentioned earlier anchoring facilities for boats can be constructed along sides of barriers.

Look at how DK MLAs are keeping quiet! All the MLAs & the Corporators who are not raising voice against this kind of stupid committe & Yettinahole are worth of defeat in the next election.

No use of any conflict. This autocratic government, worst than british government, has already suppressed a peaceful compaign against Yettinahole brutally. Any way one of IISc professor has already warned sea level will raise due to climatic changes and whole coastal region will be submerged in sea icluding the planned reservior. Just abandon coast, move to the parched city and enjoy drinking 750MW delux water (actually you have to drink desalinated water as Netravati itself will not be there & no rain as no hills will be there) with wine and have fun with IISc professors.

Why not the minister opposes the project directly? Why is he allowing it to reach the stage of asking people's opinion? He is talking as if opinion matter to this autocrat government. What he will lose if he stands with people of Dakshina Kannada?

Summa: Earlier in Mangaluru meeting the IISc scientist had stated only 120 TMC water is available in Netravati (and requiste water is not available in Yettinahole) but now he has submitted a report stating 350 TMC of water is available in Netravati.

Problem is with our legal system. Anyone can submit any bogus report and escape consequences. Whether it is the same scientists who give bogus report on Yettinahole earlier? Now they have stating that their own Yettinahole report is false and still not punished for that.

With only one school from the three coastal districts of the State selected for opening “tinkering lab”, the Atal Innovation Mission has asked more schools from Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Uttara Kannada to apply in the second round of selection of schools for setting up of these laboratories. NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission has taken up the task of establishing Atal Tinkering Laboratories in schools across India.

The objective of these laboratories is to expose students to new age technologies and foster curiosity, creativity, and imagination among young minds. These laboratories will provide children to work with tools and equipment to understand concepts of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. These laboratories will have “do it yourself” kits and equipment on science, electronics, robotics, sensors, and 3D printers. The mission will provide grant-in-aid of Rs. 10 lakh for establishment of the laboratory, and Rs. 2 lakh every year for a period of five years that will be towards operational expenses.

Talking to The Hindu here on Monday, Ramanathan Ramanan, the Mission Director of Atal Innovation Mission, said so far 457 schools were selected in the first round. In the website of the mission, the Government PU College, Volakadu, Udupi, has been mentioned as among the 30 schools in Karnataka where these laboratory will be established.

Mr. Ramanan said the mission has started selection of schools for establishment of 1,000 tinkering laboratories in the second round. Interested schools can submit applications online by July 15, he said. In the workshop on Monday about the Tinkering Laboratories for representatives from different schools in Dakshina Kannada, Mr. Ramanan said these laboratories help teachers in developing problem solving mindsets among students.

“The country needs more number of thinkers, job makers, and entrepreneurs.” The Atal Innovation Mission is trying to set an eco-system of innovation, which was presently absent.

Talking to The Hindu here on Monday, Ramanathan Ramanan, the Mission Director of Atal Innovation Mission, said so far 457 schools were selected in the first round. In the website of the mission, the Government PU College, Volakadu, Udupi, has been mentioned as among the 30 schools in Karnataka where these laboratory will be established.

Mr. Ramanan said the mission has started selection of schools for establishment of 1,000 tinkering laboratories in the second round. Interested schools can submit applications online by July 15, he said. In the workshop on Monday about the Tinkering Laboratories for representatives from different schools in Dakshina Kannada, Mr. Ramanan said these laboratories help teachers in developing problem solving mindsets among students.

“The country needs more number of thinkers, job makers, and entrepreneurs.” The Atal Innovation Mission is trying to set an eco-system of innovation, which was presently absent.

Mr. Ramanan said schools having about 1,500 sq ft space and playground can apply.

NEW DELHI: India’s first government-owned co-working space for startups is set to come up in Mangaluru, offering cutting-edge technology such as 3D printing and new-age digital infrastructure, such as high-speed Internet.

“We felt there was a great demand for a co-working space in Mangaluru. Many startups told us that they had to go to Bengaluru or other cities to access such facilities and infrastructure,” a senior official told ET.

The initiative is being led by commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman as part of the Member of Parliament Local Area Development scheme.

The government is trying to work out a sustainable revenue model for the facility designed to accommodate 100 people.

A team of officials is consulting with some of the leading Delhi-based co-working space owners to finalise the design and functioning of the Mangalore facility.

The workstations will be made available at a price nearly half the market rate being charged by privately owned social workspaces.

Sitharaman’s office is also reaching out to other government departments and ministries to build synergies and meet the costs of getting the place up and running.

For instance, the Ministry of electronics and information technology has been requested to provide the best possible internet connectivity under the Digital India initiative for startups. The government wants to create space for hardware development and experimentation with readily available 3D printing equipment.

At a later stage, a patent facilitation cell would also be made functional at the workspace to help easy access for startups. While Nasscom has been roped in to provide the technological backup, the Kannada Chamber of Commerce is also pitching in with the building and the management of the space where the co-working facility will be housed.

“We will select the right people to run the place only after asking for suggestions from the start-ups themselves since it is an entirely new territory for the government to enter,” the senior official added.

The government is also finalising the plan for setting up India’s first start-up district in Mangalore.

It would have several specialised incubation centres, and 20 tinkering labs for schools aimed at encouraging the creation of innovative solutions in areas such as agriculture, health and education.

Did a study of academic courses offered in various engineering colleges of Tulunadu against Mechatronics/Robotics, Nano Technology & Biomedical Engineering.

Mechatronics/Robotics & Artificial Intelligence

Apart from Manipal University which offers B.Tech. in Mechatronics and M.Tech. in Industrial Automation & Robotics other colleges offering these courses are MITE (M.Tech. Mechatronics, Bosch Rexroth Centre of Competence), Karavali Institute of Technology (M.Tech in Industrial Automation & Robotics), Shree Devi Institute of Technology (M.Tech in Industrial Automation & Robotics). We already know that SMVITM has 'Centre of Excellence for Artifical Intelligence & Machine Learning'. Alvas Institute of Engineering & Technology has Eyantra Robotics Laboratory. Sahyadri College of Engineering & Management has Artificial Intelligence and Image processing & computer Vision Laboratories. None seems to be interested in Biomechatronics/Biorobotics though they may be teaching it as a small part of general course on Mechatronics/Robotics.

So, out of courses listed under BEERI in the above post (Startup Kudla: Education, Innovation & Research) we have M.Sc. & M.Tech. Bioinformatics available at MIT, Manipal. MIT also has Biomedical Engineering B.Tech. & M.Tech. courses. Nitte University offers B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Biomedical Sciences, M.Sc. Molecular Medicine and Cancer Genetics. Both Manipal & Nitte teach Biotechnology. There are many colleges including engineering colleges teaching Biotechnology but except Manipal & Nitte many of them may or may not be covering Medical Biotechnology.

But not sure to what an extent they cover different subjects listed under BEERI in the above post. What we need for Mangaluru region is atleast one college having exclusive Biomaterial deparment. As I have posted earlier we need biodental, biocosmetic startups (including bioplastic startups inspite of hoping that Plastic Park will have its own incubation centre) for 'regenerative medicine' to encourage 'cruise medical tourism' and hence we need a college with 'Centre of Excellences' for different subjects under Biomaterial especially on Molecule, Cellur, Biosurface & Tissue Engineering and Synthetic Biology. Nitte, Yenepoya, AJ Shetty, Srinivas are good candidates as they teach both medicine and engineering (Manipal University has but not in Tulunadu). Out of these AJ Shetty & Srinivas are more ideal having both medical & engineering colleges in an integrated campus. AJ Shetty has advantage of being near to the core city and Srinivas has advantage of being an autonomous university. We also need colleges with exclusive departments for 'Biomedical Electronics & Instrumentation', 'Biomedical Signal & Image Processing' etc in Mangalore itself.

On 'Health Management' side, Manipal University has deparments of Health Information Management, Public Health etc, we have a few colleges offering Hospital Management courses but we don't know to what an extent 'Health/Medical Informatics' is taught. (Remember reading in a news paper that Nitte University is offering 'Master of Public Health' degree). We need exclusive management course on 'Health Information Management' exploiting all fields of Health Informatics.

Which other areas in Karnataka are being developed as IT hubs apart from Bengaluru?

It is very difficult to develop an IT hub from the scratch, until and unless there is some ready ecosystem. Just opening a park wouldn’t entail anything. Fortunately, Karnataka has a lot of traction when it comes to tech and innovation.

Both the central and the state government had invested a lot of money of the country and the state in the parched city to create that 'ready ecosystem'. When will the state government at least (if not the centre) going to invest the same amount of money in other cities of the state to create similar ecosystem? Instead of answering this question the minsiter is beating around the bush for timepass. As government has already developed a city with ecosystem for South-East Karnataka now it is time to focus & spend government money on other parts of the state and create one city each for South-West, North-West, North-East and Central Karnataka one by one so that they come up with 'ready ecosystem'.

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Originally Posted by BolliBatlu

Whether Mangalore can think of Kidzania? Instead of every mall having videogames facilities one of them can have something like Kidzania.

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Originally Posted by BolliBatlu

Along with this what colleges need is workshop with facilities like CNC machines, welding machines, plastic welding/joining machines etc for making models using wood, plastic etc. (1,2,3)(Can this be clubbed with Skill Development Programme at colleges?). And we require hobby shops supplying all modeling accesories (aicraft, ship, robot etc modeling)(not only kits but also parts & individual accessories so that kids can have their own design instead of assembling ready made kit. more than what is available at Kinetic Hobbies) needed for student projects of school kids as they are not allowed to work on machines. Currently searching for these accessories is a big task.

We should convert 'Kidzania' to 'Hobbyzania' ( or 'Startup Theme Mall' or 'Startup Theme Park') and have it in Mangalore with various modeling facilities, for example, kids can assemble bigger models (bigger compared to what can they do with hobby kits and much closer and resembling to real-life machines or industrial plants) of a petrochemical complex or a ship from isolated parts. The startup company 'Hobbyzania' need not worry about who will help them in creating parts of these models as we have enough talented people - from Skull scarcity for studies? Fret not, get artificial ones to festival tablo makers except that kids friendly materials like plastic should be used for making parts. (I don't know whether such a concept or facility for kids is available anywhere in the world. Even Kidzania activities does not include this. I searched google like 'Hobby Mall'. 'Hobby Theme Park' etc and found none.) Hope some plastic moulder will also help to manufacture components needed by models. I think even an 'Old Tile Factory' can be converted as 'Hobbyzania'. The 'Hobbyzania' itself, in addition, can have hobby stores supplying hobby accessories and kits. And it can even introduce children on how 'business incubator centers' work just like Kidzania educates children on other business/industrial activities. While Kidzania requires a lot do to align with the theme of 'Skill India', Hobbyzania can be aligned well with 'Startup India' from the beginning itself in the 'Domains of Excellence' of a city and surrounding region. What we require in Mangalore is both 'Kidzania' and 'Hobbyzania' but giving priority to our 'Domains of Excellence'.

Let us hope in addition all types of boats will be replaced by electric boats. I think battery is enough to operate boats even beyond 40 nautical miles. Anyway boats and cars can have solar roofs also. In addition there could be electric tankers for recharging boats if needed or even offshore floating/fixed wind mills (what a nice place, to halt & recharge, will be a floating/fixed restaurant attached to wind mill) or offshore fixed/floating solar plants with proper anchorage as recharging points. Even wave & under sea current options can be explored. For passengers, initially we can have electric boats operating between Mangaluru Old port and Malpe port at normal speed and then highspeed electric boats can be introduced extending service to airport. Next would be Boat Rapid Transit System.

Mangaluru-Mumbai travel by an eletric boat with say 300 km battery mileage may require three recharging points offshore or onshore at in between ports.

Who knows in near future there may also be efficient electrical amphibious vehicles!

One question is how much time it will take to charge a battery irrespective of whether it is of a land based vehicle or a boat on water. In case of autorikshaws using LPG currently it will take 2 to 3 minutes to change cyclinder. So, it could be better to have rechargeable but replaceable battery in electrical vehicles and boats. In charging stations these batteries should be exchanged with already recharged batteries. This operation further has to be automated by developing a 'Battery Replacing Mechatronic Arm'. In this case vehicles should have a battery chamber with lockable door. Just like door of a car one should be able to unlock battery door sitting in the vehicle itself. And then 'Mechatronic Arm' will do the rest supported by automated conveyor belt, recharging arrangement. Vehicle owner will charge & pay through mobile or whatever without getting down. Manual switch over to battery replacement should be easy in case of failure of automated system. But at home, office or even at recharging station itself vehicles can be recharged directly from electrical line. I think 'Mechatronic Arm' development project can be taken up by any of colleges teaching Mechatronics (MITE has advantage of Bosch Rexroth tieup). Still for electrical boats in case of offshore recharing stations I suggest floating/fixed restaurants also.

Generally autodrivers carry one more spare cylinder and replace cylinder manually when it becomes empty. But electrical vehicle should be designed to switch from one battery to other automatically. Two battery system is needed so that you can exhaust power stored in a battery completely (or 90% for better battery life?) while continue driving using other battery till nearby recharge station for replacing empty one. So disadvantage of this system is that it may need more number of stops. To solve this problem, recharge station should measure left over battery power and reduce your cost in proportion to power left. That will overcome need for spare battery (actually means split battery system or two battery system).

Two more disadvantages and solutions will be like this. First, the 'Mechatronic Arm' should be able to detect any damages to battery and be able to reject it or recover damage cost. Second, to take care of battery life a built in system is needed in vehicle recharging system to monitor battery power level and warn user of battery going down and cut off usage & recharging within specified levels.

This is second mechatronic project I am suggesting, first one being mechatronic Jet Bridge for Boat Rapid Transit System & High Speed Boats.

East Agro Robotics Private Limited has become the first ever startup company from Dakshina Kannada district to get government grant of Rs 50 lac.

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The company received the said grant from minister, Priyank Kharge, which has been given to support the effort of the company in manufacturing a machine that functions like a drone. It helps in spraying insecticide to areca nut trees to ward off rotting disease. A team of former students of SDM Engineering College came together and conceived this plan to help the farmers to handle problems affecting them. Laxmish Rao from Nidle and Avinash Rao, who founded the company, had graduated from SDM engineering college Dharwad in the year 2004. The duo was working for a multinational at Bengaluru since the last 12 years. The two are supported by Chetana, and assistant professor of MIT Manipal, Kamalesh Kumar.

I think this is second startup company for robotics in DK after Robautonics to reach production stage in agriculture sector.

What are the DGCA rules for usage of drones for non-photographic purposes like agriculture or construction? Recently DGCA imposed restrictions on drone usage for photographing functions like marriage asking them to get prior permission. In this case whether only permitted farmers are supposed to use drones?

... continued in the next post in the same page.

Let curse be upon those politicians or bureaucrats or any other person if they steal any idea from here to implement in the parched city or any other mega metro city.

The State government has granted Rs. 50 crore to Mangalore University to develop an advanced research centre at Belapu in Udupi district, says Vice-Chancellor K. Byrappa.

At the academic council meeting of the university on Thursday, he said the centre would have advanced research facilities and would not offer postgraduate courses. The fund has to be utilised within three years. In the second phase of the project, the government has promised to sanction Rs. 25 crore. It has asked the university to put in an equal amount as its share.

The university has prepared a detailed report for the Rs. 120-crore project. In addition to the 20 acres handed over to the university at Belapu village, the government is in the process of transferring another 15 acres. With this, the university will have 35 acres there. It had originally sought 100 acres.

The government had announced plans to establish the centre in its 2014-15 budget using funds from the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan.

According to Mr. Byrappa, the centre will be developed along the lines of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, and Tsukuba, a planned science city in Japan.

The university is also set to expand its base geographically, with the government allotting 35 acres of land in total at Belapu, the postgraduate centre.

Though the university had in its possession 20 acres of land earlier, the land remained to be transferred to it. Now, the government has given its consent for additional 15 acres of land taking the total extent of land holding to 35 acres along with right to tenancy certificate (RTC). While the main PG campus at Konaje will be getting additional 40 acres, followed by 26 acres at Nelyadi. Another PG centre at Chikka Aluvara at Kushalnagar in Kodagu district has been allotted additional 10 acres of lands, the VC told reporters.

Three new courses

Beginnining from the new academic year, Mangalore University will introduce three new courses.

VC K Byrappa said, “Two-year postgraduation course in medical physics will be started, followed by PG diploma in cyber security and PG diploma in finance and banking technology, with the duration of one year each.”

Five new departments including mass communication and journalism will be started at the PG centre in Chikka Aluvara in Kodagu district from this year, he added.

The Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) is very excited on this big push for the district and have also submitted a proposal to the State government for an incubation hub. Jeevan Saldanha KCCI president speaking to Bangalore Mirror said that we have to succeed for the sake of our youngsters. There are 8,000 engineers passing out from 22 engineering colleges in Dakshina Kannada every year. We need to give them employment. Mangaloreans have been successful all over the world, he said.

“For this we need a couple of incubation centers. Other than what the Union government has proposed, the KCCI has put forth proposals before the State government for setting up an IT incubation centre of 20,000sq ft. The proposal has been sent by the Chamber and the approval from the ITBT secretary is awaited.

The top officials are confident of getting the required funds. There is an additional 10,000 Sq ft which is going to come as innovation hub for Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM). The proposal is for a 40 acre Electronics Manufacturing hub in Dakshina Kannada. Land at Baikampady has been already been identified of which, the KCCI has requested the government to reserve land for small scale industries too.

Apart from this, the KCCI is keen on adding about 50 acres to the Bagundi Lake. The focus is on the overall development of the district. We have also spoken to the Tourism Department so that the lake is developed into a tourist spot. We can consider water sports activities and a floating restaurant too, “said Jeevan Saldanha.

These initiatives should give opportunities to youngsters and prevent them from migrating to other places like the Middle East. The KCCI is confident that his proposal will gain momentum in the next 2-3 years.

On why Mangaluru has an edge over Bengaluru, he said, Mangaluru’s advantange is ease of working, proximity and commuting time is less in Mangaluru. Quality of Life Index is high here. The population is literate. “This can be ascertained through the GST registration and migration figures. When Karnataka’s average was 70 per cent, on June 15 the registration for GST and migration in Dakshina Kananda revenue district including Udupi was 92 per cent, indicating that we are 22 per cent above the state average. People are business savy. There are about 1.2 lakh registered dealers in the revenue district. When it comes to compliance rating, the district enjoys a top position. The revenue and tax collection rates are also high,” KCCI president said.

Looks like Bagundi is better place for "Hobby Theme Park" (even Kidzania can be included) compared to Old Tile Factories. Following facilities/activities can be made available at Bagundi.

About five acres open lawn for hobby flyers. (What I meant by hobby flyers are hobbyists who make their own small toy models, not the flying club type. Flying Club can come up in current airport when new airport is realized.) Currently people are using places like openspace near Maryhill Helipad. Once reserved facility comes up all activities of hobby flying, hot air balloon etc can be conducted here.

A shallow pool in which kids can test hobby toy boats, submarines, ships etc {1,2,3 - though these videos show ready made toys our kids should be assembling them instead. 1,2,3 - these videos show parts prepared by using some big cutting/drilling machines instead they should be available readymade at hobby store or workshop at park should prepare and provide them.} Kids should not get drowned even if fall into pool. This pool can have marked lanes for holding model boat competitions. Interestingly a seaplane (float plane/flying boat) model should be able to take off from this pool and then fly into open lawn even though most of facilities should be indoor so as to be active during rainy season also.

A big pool for teenage kids for testing real prototypes of boats {1,2,3,4,5}. Boatlift & slipway facilities from Modeling Arena to pool can also be provided. Even this pool should be shallow compared to Bagundi lake but should have connecting gate to lake so that once boats successfully tested in the big pool can enter the bigger lake in case kids know swimming.

A small dam for testing models of turbines & electricity generators. There could be an artificial waterfall to add attraction. In case of wave or underwater current turbines & electricity generators facility is needed for generating wave and underwater current. But if we overdo things then it will become research centre rather than hobby park. For example, creating facility for testing wind mills is a big task but a small model can be tested with normal stand/pedestal fans.

Modeling Arena mentioned as Hobbyzania in the above post. (Hobbyzania will have dummy models for hazardous ones like industrial plants but real working models for others. Even dummy models should educate children on all stages of processing in an industrial plant. As another example solar pump can be a real working model but enough precaution should be provided to safeguard children against electrical hazards.) Identifying & creating models & then providing testing facilities is really a challenging job. {1,2,3,4,5}

In case of a few model which may require more than a day to assemble lodging facility may be needed for kids & parents coming from far off places.

New models should be introduced regularly. So, a permanent model creation team is needed. This team can itself be a team of hobbyists.

Hobby stores - Hobbyists can come up with their own design and get parts from hobby store or get it done or make it at workshop attached to hobby store. Hobbyists can even sell their products to others through these stores.

Exhibition hall were students can display their models. A few of the models can be made available for reassembling also. In that way there will be opportunities for hobbyists also to earn pocket money.

Holding of regular interschool, interdistrict competitions etc.

Free morning or evening pass of three days or a week for children who want to get trained in flying toy planes or boats. (Maryhill openspace is available for free of cost, so should be this one.) And yearly memberships for those who need it.

The Park should regularly publish books on model designs. For all the published models Hobby Stores should be able to supply accessories. The Theme Park can also publish video books or in youtube. Can also conduct regular TV programmes.

Though this facility is far off from central business district the hobbyists from surrounding areas like Surathkal can use it on regular basis.

Question is what are the incentives the governments can provide to such kind of educational theme parks including Kidzania type of educational cum entertainment centres in tier-II & tier-III cities. Best thing is to include 'Startup Theme Park' or 'Hobby Theme Park' under Startup India scheme.

Undivided DK may require totally ten such 'Startup Theme Parks'. Bagundi, Pilikula, around Deralakatte, around Padil-BC Road, Uppinangadi junction and Puttur for DK and Mannpalla, one more between Udupi & Kapu, Karkala and Kundapura for Udupi district. Alternatively three or four of them could be main Startup Theme Parks and other can be hobby clubs as toy plane flying clubs or toy boat clubs. I am not familar with UK so no suggestion.

The ecosystem will comprise a 100-seater co-working space for budding entrepreneurs in Mangaluru, two innovation centres, about five incubation centres in colleges and around 30 tinkering labs in schools. Under the Atal Innovation Mission, Atal Tinkering Laboratories will be set up in different schools in this ‘startup coast’. Different schools have applied for this with the Niti Aayog. The innovation centres would be located at the National Institute of Technology in Surathkal and NMAM Institute of Technology under Nitte University.

Students asked to prepare chutneys, herbal drinks and art works from plants found around them

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For the students of class nine, the theme was medicinal plants. They had to ask elders at home the importance of one medicinal plant and make a presentation on it. The students could extract oil or even prepare herbal drinks.

Karnataka Bank has set up 'Financial & Statistical Research Centre' in its Mangaluru head quarters is a good news. Whether & to what extent they are going to create opportunities for 'Financial/Banking Informatics' graduates? If there is sufficient opportunities then whether they have tied up with any college to develop syllabus & recruitment? Or do they have plan to encourage startups in this sector?

I think it is high time Mangaloreans close their accounts in those banks which have ditched Mangalore after being taken over by the central government and open new accounts in new startup banks of Mangalore.

Yenepoya University is planning to set up an innovation and incubation centre to strengthen research activities and network, according to its Chancellor Y. Abdulla Kunhi. Addressing a gathering at the silver jubilee year celebration of Yenepoya Dental College at Deralakatte here on Monday, he said that the university would strengthen research activities in emerging areas such as 3D printing technologies, omics-technologies, patient relevant clinical and translational research.

BENGALURU: Mangaluru is set to become the new hub of animation, visual effects, gaming and comics (AVGC). The government has envisaged huge potential for the coastal city to become the next hub after Bengaluru and drafted a policy for it.

"While Bengaluru is still in the scheme of things as the super hub of animation, considering its strong IT background, Mangaluru holds greater promise with animation companies there showing great potential," said IT-BT minister Priyank Kharge. Under the AVGC policy 2017-22, Kharge said it's looking at strengthening Tier II cities to reduce the strain on Bengaluru's infrastructure. He said 120 training centres in Tier II cities will be opened in collaboration with private players and the government has earmarked a venture fund of Rs 20 crore for AVGC startups.

"We have decided to allocate funds to only those companies registered in Karnataka and those having original content with national or global reach,'' he added. As part of this funding, Rs 50 lakh has been set aside as production grants. Soon, other possible incentives will be announced.

The government is also mulling over setting up a centre for excellence on the outskirts of Bengaluru to impart state-of-the-art education on animation and gaming. It has initiated talks with the School of Images Gobelins, Paris for an academic partnership. Gobelins, which is ranked No. 1 worldwide, is being roped in by Karnataka for planning the curriculum and creating a programme for AVGC.

"We have already had a few rounds of talks and Gobelins has expressed interest in setting up the centre of excellence," said the minister. The department is scouting for 15-20 acres to set up the centre. The AVGC sector employs around 20,000 people in the state, and the number is expected to grow over the next few years.

When the government is talking about 'Centre of Excellence for Animation' & investments in the parched city only how can Mangaluru become 'Animation Hub'? All election year blah blah! Anyway even a filmcity (at Kapu, Udupi) with 'Animation Studio' is welcome.

By the way, has the state government drafted any policy for making Mangaluru 'Healthcare Tourism Cluster' as proposed in Karnataka Tourism Vision 2015-2020 page 10? And even Mangaluru MP had stated that the central government is drafting a plan to make Mangalore Medical Tourism Hub. People of Kudla want to know now, actually which government is planning for this?

Summa: Prior preparations are going on to implement Health Tourism Project for the first time in the country in DK district targetting Rs. 3,000 crores annual income and 30,000 jobs generation. Mindful Consulting company has prepared draft and submitted to NITI Ayog. NITI Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant is interested in executing the project. India expects annually 10,00,000 patients to visit India by 2020. And project aims to attract 5% of this to DK.

MRPL and OMPL delivered technical works in AI and machines and future fuels from plastics. Srinivas Moturi and Satyavaraprasad Ganji, deputy managers, MRPL presented an OMPL co-authored technical work on in-house statistical code developed to carry process optimization. Deepthi C Upputuri, senior engineer gave presentation on maximization of P-Xylene yield in integrated refinery and petrochemical complex using nonlinear regression and statistical analysis.

Chayan Bhalla, deputy manager, MRPL presented a research work on conversion of waste and virgin plastics to valuable hydrocarbon fuels like petrol and diesel. The presentation is titled as petroleum refinery as plastic waste management hub that highlights potential of integrating plastic waste management with petroleum refinery process. The above presentations were well received by the knowledgeable gathering at this triennial congress.

Let us hope that NIELIT, Mangaluru will have 'Centre of Excellence for Medical Electronics' & 'Centre of Excellence for Health Informatics'. (All other facilities needed are listed against each NIELIT centres in website itself.)

Where is NIELIT coming up? How many acres of land is reserved for NIELIT? Will the land be sufficient if NIELIT thinks of setting up "Medical Electronics & IT Innovation Centre' also in future? Further it should be able to expand to Marine Electronics, Industrial Electronics etc also.

IT-BT Minister Priyank Kharge said as on Thursday, they have received more than 1,250 applications. “Close to 40 per cent of these applications are from rural and tier 2 cities. We have received applications from Hubballi, Kalaburagi, Kolar, Mysuru, Mangaluru, Bengaluru and other cities. This shows how the start-up trend is penetrating to rural areas and smaller towns,” he said. He said as many as 68 applications were received from from Kalaburagi district alone.

40% just reflects pathetic status of governance and step motherly treatment of other parts of Karnataka by GoK vis-a-vis the parched capital.

We have B.Sc. (Animation & Visual Effects) educational course offered by colleges like Sharada, Canara (Of course Sanu Palace, MG Road itself has about five micro institutes teaching this subject and there are a few more on that road), PAC, AB Shetty. What Mangalore needs is colleges offering Animation courses targetting the specific domains listed above (other than video games & motion pictures). Although techniques are same subject knowledge will be added advantage here. What we need is one college teaching each domain-specific animation in Mangalore. Of course for simulation we need separate domain specific courses of 'computational modeling & simulation' {1,2,3,4,5} in different domains like medical, agriculture, transportation etc. Course material should include Computational Intelligence {1,2,3,4,5}. And if proposed NIELIT can introduce a course on 'computational modeling & simulation' at least in medical domain it would be great.

As many as 30 innovative applications were received for the Programme from Mangaluru region.

30:1700 is that a good ratio?

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Surayanarayan, Governing board member of TiE Bangalore said: "Mangaluru has a rich and vibrant student community. With reputed colleges near the city of Mangaluru, the next step would be to harness the talent available. Pitch to Elevate witnessed some very innovative pitches from Life Sciences and Bio Tech sector. We are partnering with premier institutions to nurture start-ups in Mangaluru and soon we will see a tag of start-up district attached with Mangaluru. "

Kishan, who is populary know as Master Kishan in the Cinema industry has come out with cutting edge technology-based product 'Medimagic' that brings a paradigm shift in the teaching and learning process, with support of Vinformax, a UK-based company, enrich the learning process of all concerned medical, dental, para medical sciences. The speciality of this product is that Kishan has developed the concept on stereoscopic 3D animation akin to technology that was adapted in the Oscar award winning movie 'Avatar'.

Some of the focus areas for start-ups are: automation/robotics in hydrocarbon area, development of device for cracks/leak detection in pipelines, low-cost model for waste to energy, bio-fuel manufacturing, low-cost process for desalination of sea water, innovative waste disposal, and other open areas related to petroleum refining and alternate energy.

Addressing presspersons in Mangaluru on Wednesday, T.S. Keshava Prasad, Deputy Director of the Centre for Systems Biology and Molecular Medicine, said the centre has been awarded the BiSEP to conduct a one-year postgraduate diploma in multiomics technology. (Multiomics is an interdisciplinary subject that includes genomics, proteomics, metabolomics and proteogenomics.)

He said Yenepoya University is the only centre to offer BiSEP in multiomics technology. The centre has facilities and experts in this technology to undertake such a training programme.

A total of six projects from St Joseph Engineering College were sponsored by KSCST in this academic year. All six projects were shortlisted for exhibition/seminar and out of the six, two projects won the prestigious Project of the Year Award for their technical excellence and innovation. The project on 'Aero-Blending of Ethanol for Internal Combustion Engine' from the Department of Mechanical Engineering carried out by Rohan D’Souza and team and guided by Dr Joseph Gonsalvis, principal, won the Project of the Year award. From the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, the project Arecanut Tree Climber and Pesticide Sprayer by Jnanasagar Kamath and team, guided by assistant professor Divya Pai, also won the Project of the Year award. The above two awards along with the other four sponsored projects helped SJEC secure the Best Performing College in the State.

The other projects that were sponsored by KSCST this year were: Production of High Grade Liquid Fuel for CI Engine by Thermo-Catalytic cracking of Waste Plastic by Ashlin Leroy D’Silva and team under the guidance of John Paul and Ramya M, Paddy Cleaning Machine by Manish Nayak and team under the guidance of Ashwin Shetty, Design and fabrication of Arecanut Processing Unit by Vion Joseph Martis and team under the guidance of Yathish Kumar and Extraction of Oil Spillages from water bodies using Magnetorheological Fluid Principle by Varun Thomas and team under the guidance of Dr Binu K G.